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The economy bounced back by 15.5 per cent in the three months to September – but it was already slowing down before the latest lockdown. Official figures showed UK plc clawed back ground over the summer, as coronavirus cases fell and shops, bars and restaurants were allowed to reopen. But the recovery tapered off in … Read more
Tories are urging an end the blanket lockdown before December 2 amid claims Boris Johnson believes he was bounced into the extreme curbs. Senior MPs said the PM should not keep the restrictions in place for the full month just to ‘maximise the pain’, amid early signs that the surge is already levelling out. Mr Johnson … Read more
Boris Johnson believes he was bounced into ordering a second national lockdown, a Cabinet ally said last night. The Prime Minister reluctantly signed off a new lockdown in England last weekend after being warned by Government scientists that deaths could rise to 4,000 a day – four times the peak seen in April. Boris Johnson … Read more
Boris Johnson sent security experts to the homes of Cabinet Ministers to examine their personal mobile phones as part of a major leak inquiry. Senior figures, including Matt Hancock and Michael Gove, were told to surrender their phones as No10 hunted for the mole whose secret briefings forced the Prime Minister to make an early … Read more
Timeline of the PM’s lockdown decision Friday, 7am: Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab begins a round of broadcast interviews defending the government’s ‘Tiered’ system of local lockdowns. Friday 2.30pm: Sir Patrick Vallance underlines SAGE’s call for a national lockdown at a briefing with reporters, saying it is ‘not too late to save Christmas’. Friday 3pm: Papers are … Read more
Furious anti-lockdown Tory MPs last night accused Boris Johnson of allowing himself to be bounced into an England-wide shutdown after No10 binned its three-tier Covid-19 alert system. Conservatives were outraged that plans to plunge the country into a second shutdown were leaked to the Saturday papers, including the Mail, before the Prime Minister’s announcement in … Read more
Small and micro businesses are the backbone of the British economy. So it comes as no surprise that, when commerce was shut down, the Chancellor felt he had to come to the rescue.
While many small businesses continue to suffer at the hands of the coronavirus pandemic, those in the cycling industry have never been busier. A fear of catching the virus on public transport has seen a big rise in the number of people cycling, while sales of new bikes have exploded. Meanwhile, much quieter roads and … Read more
Saudi sheikh who owns £45m London mansion ‘sent 17 bouncing cheques ‘ as casino that appeared in James Bond’s Dr No pursued him for £2m gambling debt Sheikh Salah Hamdan Albluewi accused of failing to settle the gambling debts Ran up the debt last September according to Les Ambassadeurs Club in Mayfair The casino went … Read more
Russian scientists suggest the mysterious ‘Tunguska event’ explosion of 1908 was caused by an iron asteroid that entered the Earth’s atmosphere and then bounced back into space. The flying asteroid is thought to have skimmed the planet at a low altitude above Siberia, causing an explosion that flattened around 80 million trees over an area … Read more